Zhou Yuexi stayed the night at her penthouse in Azure Hotel, in her apartment, according to her words. She woke up at 4 a.m. the next day, as she promised her grandfather she'd be back in the morning, knowing that the old man would really hold it against her if she was not a the Zhou Family Villa for breakfast.
Zhou Yuexi took a quick shower and put on comfortable clothes, as she was just going to swing by her office then go home immediately. After she was donned preparing, she grabbed her phone and went to the kitchen to brew coffee.
While waiting for her coffee, she fetched her phone from her pocket to call Chen Liang to drive her to the office. But when she opened her phone, there was a text message from an unknown number.
Zhou Yuexi contemplated whether to delete the text or read it, for she never gives her personal phone number to anyone, but still decided on the latter.
Zhou Yuexi's mouth twitched when she read the contents of the message. 'You're quite meticulous aren't you, dear future wife? But I must say, you're rather gutsy dear future wife, insulting your dear future husband's painstakingly made proposal. I deliberately made it that way, it was a test to see if my dear future wife is capable and really worthy to be my wife. Never thought of it this way didn't you? As you said there's an exemption and that is when I want it to be done that way, nonetheless all other proposals from our company us flawless. Rest assured that your dear future husband is extremely capable.
PS: See you on Saturday night, my dear future wife'
She never expected that it was just a test from Zhang Yixing, just like he said but she believed him still. But what shook her is that Zhang Yixing accepted her 'dear future husband' antic, using it repeatedly in his rather long text message. Never in her life did she imagine the cold and aloof CEO that most businessman fear and woman fantasize would accept her pet name just like that.
Zhou Yuexi constructed a text in reply after recovering from the blow of the pet name exchange.
'You didn't have to explain, a mistake is a mistake but it's fine as long as it's corrected. I'll see you on Saturday night. Have a good day, dear future husband.'
After seeing that her message has been sent, Zhou Yuexi wondered how Zhang Yixing got her number when she personally made precautions as to not to leek her private number. 'Is he that capable that he managed to know a secret I hid very well?', she thought.
As Zhou Yuexi was about to dismiss the idea, her best friend, Zhang Qingyu popped into her mind. That's right! Zhang Qingyu is one of the few people who knew her number and taking into consideration that they are technically siblings, it's not impossible for Zhang Yixing to get her number from Zhang Qingyu.
Zhou Yuexi sighed. What's done is done, it's not even a big deal since it's only a matter of time and he'd know it naturally. So what's the matter if he knew of it sooner?
...
Meanwhile, on a plane from Country J going back to Imperial, Zhang Yixing was incredulously staring at a text message he received earlier that day.
Lu Han on the other hand, looked at his boss like he had three heads. Moments where he could see his boss smiling devilishly is such a rare situation that he was creeped out at the sight of his boss.
...
Saturday night came and Zhou Yuexi is finally going to meet Zhang Yixing in person. They're having dinner in an Azure Hotel near the suburbs.
Azure Hotel is a subsidiary company of Zhang Corporation under Zhang Qingyu's name but since she is not interested in their family business, her brother Zhang Yixing manages it. It started with just one hotel to at least one in every city in China and recently expanded abroad.
As soon as Zhou Yuexi entered the restaurant inside Azure Hotel, a receptionist readily greeted and assisted her. "Good evening, ma'am. Reservation under what name?"
"Zhang Yixing."
The receptionist looked at Zhou Yuexi intently as she led her into the private room where Zhang Yixing is.
Inside the room, Zhang Yixing was already seated by the table, waiting for her. When he saw Zhou Yuexi enter the room, he quickly stood up to greet her.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Zhou." Zhang Yixing slightly bowed as acknowledgment of Zhou Yuexi's arrival. "Or should I call you dear future wife?"
Zhou Yuexi felt shy hearing the pet name she initiated to use but hid it under her calm facade in front of Zhang Yixing.
Zhou Yuexi also bowed in greeting to Zhang Yixing with a gentle smile. "The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Zhang. Or should I also call you dear future husband?"
Her cheeky remark earned a light chuckle from Zhang Yixing. He pulled a seat for Zhou Yuexi before he sat in his chair right in front Zhou Yuexi.
"I already had food prepared beforehand, I hope you don't mind and enjoy your meal." Zhang Yixing said as he looked at the waiters in the room, signaling them to start serving food.
"It's fine. I'm not a picky eater."
The two remained awkwardly silent as the waiters continously served food on their table until it was full.
"Uhm... Let's eat first then we'll talk after we're done eating. I'm quite hungry." Zhang Yixing picked up his chopsticks and started eating.
They were served a full course Chinese dinner. Spicy Pork and Spinach Dumplings, Egg Drop Soup, Szechuan Beef, Kung Pao Chicken, Vegetable Fried Rice, Honey Sriracha Shrimp, Chinese Cabbage Stir Fry and Strawberry Snowflake Cake for dessert.
They both ate quietly while stealing glances from each other. Taking note of each other's eating behaviours. Zhang Yixing inferred that Zhou Yuexi preferred vegetables over meat and that she doesn't like sweet food that much. While Zhou Yuexi concluded that Zhang Yixing likes balancing sweet and spicy taste and that he is a rice lover.
Zhou Yuexi enjoyed the meal for she loves spicy food. She was glad that they both have the same food preference or else it would be troublesome whenever they ate together in the future. She also liked the Strawberry Snowflake Cake because she believes anything strawberry flavored is the best food ever.
Zhang Yixing started the conversation as soon as the servers were done cleaning the table. "So you like spicy food as well?"
"Yes. I usually like to skip meals but spicy food helps boost my appetite."
"That's good, at least we won't argue about food." Zhang Yixing sat up straight and continued to talk. "I don't really have a certain preference with regards to the woman I'll marry, I just don't like someone who sticks their nose too much on my business."
"I'm thinking the same way. I'm fine as long as you don't do something that disrespects me or our marriage. Besides that, I don't have any other concern." Zhou Yuexi stated her opinion as she poured herself a cup of tea. "Tea?"
Zhang Yixing nodded and Zhou Yuexi poured him a cup of tea as well.
"I'm fine with that too, I hope you heed to that as well.", Zhang Yixing said as he took a sip on his tea. "I don't promise I'll learn to love you or anything like that but I'll try my best to make our marriage work. But if ever you want to divorce me in the future, I'd accept it and take the fall. I know it's always harsher for women when it comes to divorce."
"I plan trying to make our marriage work as well. And I have no plans of having a divorce because I'm not a fan of broken marriages. Unless you cheat on me, we will stay married. So whether we have a divorce or not is up to you.", Zhou Yuexi said as she looked straight into Zhang Yixing's eyes.
Zhang Yixing smiled in admiration to Zhou Yuexi's conviction. "Don't worry I have no plans of marrying twice in my life. Once I made a decision, I stick to it, it has always been my principle."
Zhou Yuexi just nodded slowly while enjoying her tea.
"My family wants to meet you, especially my mother and my other siblings. Xiao Qing has been singing you praises ever since they knew we're getting married and now they can't wait to meet you."
Zhou Yuexi silently cursed Zhang Qingyu in her mind. 'That blabbermouth really has the knack of irritating me. I'll definitely strangle her to death when I see her.'
Zhou Yuexi blushed from mortification so she quickly bowed her head and covered her face with her hand. "That's so embarrassing. Qingqing... that girl... really... now I feel so uncomfortable."
Zhang Yixing found the sight of Zhou Yuexi acting shy rather cute and amusing, causing him to release a hearty chuckle. "Don't worry, just from the character building that Xiao Qing did, they already like you. Actually, we'll be having a family lunch tomorrow and I think it would be nice if you could come over."